Middle East | The Daily Star

  • Protester killed as Iraq struggles to stem unrest

    Iraqi police fought running street battles with anti-government demonstrators yesterday, firing tear and rubber bullets to try to disperse stone-throwing youths pressing for an overhaul of a political system they see as deeply corrupt.

  • Two missiles fired at Ukraine airliner

    Iran has confirmed two Tor-M1 missiles were fired at a Ukrainian airliner brought down this month, in a catastrophic error that killed all 176 people on board and sparked angry protests.

  • Iran MP offers $3m reward for “whoever kills Trump”

    An Iranian lawmaker offered a $3 million reward to anyone who killed US President Donald Trump and said Iran could avoid threats if it had nuclear arms, ISNA news agency reported yesterday amid Tehran’s latest standoff with Washington.

  • 3 rockets fall inside Baghdad's Green Zone, no casualties

    Three Katyusha rockets fall inside Baghdad's Green Zone which houses government buildings and foreign missions, Iraqi police sources told Reuters.

  • Rouhani says Iran wants dialogue, working to 'prevent war'

    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says he wants to avoid war after Tehran and Washington appeared on the brink of direct military confrontation in early January for the second time in less than a year.

  • 11 US troops wounded in last week's Iran attack on Iraq base

    At least 11 American troops were injured in an Iranian attack on an Iraqi base where American soldiers were deployed, US Central Command says, although the US military had previously maintained there were no casualties.

  • Taliban show ‘willingness’ to reduce Afghan violence

    Pakistan’s foreign minister yesterday said the Taliban has shown “a willingness” to reduce violence in war-torn Afghanistan after more than 18 years fighting the US, sparking speculation that a potential breakthrough in talks with the Americans may be near.

  • Europeans fear Trump’s ‘bully’

    Iran yesterday accused European governments of sacrificing a troubled 2015 nuclear deal to avoid trade reprisals from US President Donald Trump who has spent nearly two years trying to scupper it.

  • 3.5 lakh fled Idlib since Dec 1

    Around 350,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have been displaced by a renewed Russian-backed offensive in the opposition-held Idlib province since early December, and have sought shelter in border areas near Turkey, the United Nations said yesterday.

  • Israeli jets attack air base in Syria’s Homs, 3 killed

    A missile strike on a Syrian airbase that Damascus blamed on Israel killed at least three Iran-backed militiamen, a monitor said yesterday.

  • Iran rejects idea of ‘Trump deal’

    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani yesterday dismissed a proposal for a new “Trump deal” aimed at resolving a nuclear row, saying it was a “strange” offer and criticising US President Donald Trump for always breaking promises.

  • New footage shows Iranian missiles hitting Ukraine plane

    New video footage emerges showing two Iranian missiles tearing through the night sky and hitting a Ukrainian passenger plane, sending the aircraft down in flames and killing all 176 passengers and crew on board.

  • Ready to act against Haftar

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday he would “teach a lesson” to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar if he resumed fighting after abandoning ceasefire talks in Moscow.

  • Surviving was a miracle

    Waves of ballistic missiles, soldiers hunkered down in bunkers for hours, intense shock waves -- a top US commander said he reacted to Iran’s unprecedented attack against an Iraqi base with “disbelief”.

  • Iran announces first arrests

    Iran said yesterday it had arrested people accused of a role in shooting down a Ukrainian airliner and had also detained 30 people involved in protests that have swept the nation since the military belatedly admitted its error.

  • Ukrainian airline

    Downing of Ukraine jet unforgivable mistake: Rouhani

    Iran "deeply regrets" the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner earlier this week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says in a tweet.

  • US strike kills Taliban leader in Herat

    A US airstrike killed a Taliban splinter-group commander and several other fighters in the western Afghan province of Herat, Afghan and military sources said Thursday.

  • Iraq asks US for team to prepare troop pullout

    Iraq’s caretaker premier Adel Abdel Mahdi has asked the United States to send a delegation to Baghdad to begin preparing for a troop pullout, his office said yesterday.

  • Air strike kills 8 Iraq paramilitaries in east Syria: Monitor

    An air strike in eastern Syria killed eight fighters of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force overnight, a war monitor says.

  • Iran denies Ukrainian plane downed by missile

    Iran's civil aviation chief denies that a missile downed a Ukrainian airliner which crashed killing all 176 on board, dismissing claims of a catastrophic mistake by Tehran's air defences.

  • Iranians shot down airliner, Western leaders declare

    It is “highly likely” that Iran shot down the civilian Ukrainian jetliner that crashed near Tehran, killing all 176 people on board, US, Canadian and British officials declare.

  • Philippines allows its citizens to stay in Iran

    The Philippines will no longer require its citizens to leave Iran and Lebanon as worries of a broader conflict in the Middle East eased, but the mandatory evacuation order for workers in Iraq remains in force, officials said yesterday.

  • Lebanon bans Ghosn from foreign travel

    Lebanon banned former auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn from travelling yesterday after questioning him over an Interpol “red notice” of charges of financial misconduct in Japan, judicial sources said.

  • New virus behind outbreak

    China and WHO believe a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that struck 59 people is caused by a new strain of virus from the same family as SARS, which killed hundreds of people more than a decade ago.

  • Satellite photos show damage to air base

    Iranian missiles damaged or destroyed seven buildings in the part of Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq that houses US military personnel, satellite photographs appear to show.

  • Satellite photos show damage to air base in Iraq hit by Iranian missiles

    Iranian missiles damaged or destroyed seven buildings in the part of Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq that houses US military personnel, satellite photographs appear to show.

  • 2 rockets fall inside Baghdad's Green Zone

    Two rockets fell inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign missions, but caused no casualties, the Iraqi military says.

  • 'The worst briefing I've had': Senate Iran briefing gets heated

    Following Wednesday’s briefing and the sessions, most of Trump's fellow Republicans praises the officials, and Trump, for the strike and the presentation.

  • Philippines to evacuate workers from Iraq

    The Philippines will dispatch cargo planes and a ship to help evacuate Filipino migrant workers from Iraq after ordering its citizens to leave following an Iranian missile strike targeting US troops, officials said yesterday.

  • IRAQ WAS INFORMED

    “We received an official verbal message from the Islamic Republic of Iran that the Iranian response to the assassination of Qasem Soleimani had begun or would begin shortly, and that the strike would be limited to where the US military was located in Iraq without specifying the locations”.

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